The notes are made from a polymer and are waterproof (not that I bathe with my money – although it does give a different meaning to money laundering!), quite different to the linen base in the UK.

The more observant reader may note that the smallest coin is 10c…so if you pay by cash, it just gets rounded up or down. Having spent so long donating 1p and 2p pieces to charity in the UK to clear out my wallet, it is nice not to mess about with such things (or walk around slightly lop-sided due to the extra weight). Perhaps charities are now missing out. Nice to have interesting pictures of birds on the coins and of course Queen Elizabeth II (all stand for the national anthem!).

All said, it is quite unusual for people to use cash here and even the small businesses seem to have EFTPOS (debit card to us normal folk) machines…it is looking quite close to cashless. Perhaps the UK will move closer to this in the years to come…

Since I started writing this blog, I think I have become more aware of my surroundings to hopefully ensure that I don’t miss something that might be of interest. This includes visits to public toilets.

You will be pleased to know there are no photos to share!

I have been caught off guard in various toilets around the world by such things as one in the USA which put a fresh plastic cover on the seat, or gaps in toilet cubicles down the side of the doors (again USA). What about ones on trains where you have to stand on the tap? I have also heard of French ones with foot positions marked either side of a hole.

I also hate it when there is no soap.

The standard in NZ of public facilities is really good so far…but I want to mention 2 separate ones which surprised me on the same day. The first had a tap which I waved my hands under and tried pushing and pulling until I discovered that the flow of water was controlled by a rotating device at the end of the tap nozzle. Bizarre. You do end up looking rather daft I dare say as you start to wonder how you will get the soap off your hands!

Later, I then went in one at the bus station which, as you closed the door, announced that you had 10 minutes before the door unlocked! It then proceeded to play a piano recital of “What the World Needs Now is Love” by Burt Bacharach. I thankfully was not in need of a 10 minute stay but it would’ve been interesting to see if you got counted down! 😃

Over the years, I have come to consider myself as something of a world champion recycler. I religiously wash and sort out rubbish to ensure that what should be recycled, is recycled (albeit not checking all the different plastic types because, quite frankly, expecting the public to do that is crazy). I like to think the environment might be a little better for my contribution.

I find it quite frustrating that most things we buy are packaged as though they were fine china and wonder how the world will look when humanity has finished raping and pillaging it of every resource going so that we are having to just eat and drink what we can get locally. Let us hope that the boffins find something clean to replace oil…and can save bees from being decimated. I wouldn’t want to be here if and when things start to collapse…assuming of course that it hasn’t already begun.

Anyway…how negative is all of that? I only came here to post about rubbish collections…not an interesting thing, you may think…I would have agreed until I saw the truck collecting the recycling…a robotic arm picking up bins! Amazing! Woe betide you if you were on the pavement when one of these babies trundled past and picked up your bin…the driver doesn’t even have to get out of the cab!